Force-Molting Layers
By Floyd W. Hicks tico that could reduce this cost
Penn State Poultry Specialist under certain circumstances
In the poultry business we are I f,g,,res 1 ' el:1 '
challenged to use the present f n lbl f nb conccrning
respite from the struggle for pioductl ° n ; pciformance and
bare survival to investigate, ana- f ? ed p £ r Q<uen , eggs ' elt L> how ‘
Jyze and plan piograms for fu- f VC u’ bc " npollant coefficients
ture more rigorous economic familtU ' Wlth aie the
times. The managerial decision °r°' j nS - , /r .
of possible force molting benefits qi7 p B ! d p ° n u . nds/ ! D S, zens X
becomes an important question r,nd; Pucc par
under alternative enterprises d ° zen / Dozcns x slze - eoefii
whenfaced with certain econom- c ' e n' h - _ ...
ic conditions Both of tp ese coefficients take
A limiting factor to consider into ' wnsideiatjon egg; mass as;a
would be the marketing channels P™ du^‘ on facto !l and a , ie iele '
available. For the shell egg trade va ” f t to foi , ce molted flo( * s
we need some leahsdc evalua- 1 JL ut ° m ' T ia ? e h ? us ! n ?
tion of the practice and its p, O . COst by 5 ?P 61 ? 61 ! 1 - ol,t pote . ntial
duct Surely, we have the altem- f in would onlv , be one cen r l pei
ative channel of egg breaking in- dozen ~' f , we u lost nO , perfor Am
creasingly available to us ance with the cheaper house An
But it seems economically eq “ al sa T 5 would '® sult llom
wasteful to the Pennsylvania m- ? nly al4 p : lcent ieductlon 111
dustry to unconditionally con- ben depiecidtlon
demn the practice in total and Any consideiation of foice
jiot accept the fact that at least molting must include analysis of
the first five months of produc- at least seven factors
lion by molted layers are accept- 1 Rate of Lay
able for the shell egg trade, 2 All Quality Factoi s
usually. We must keep in mind, 3 Egg Size
however, that as the force-molt- 4 Price Spreads
ed production period pi ogresses 5 Flock Depreciation
it takes more time to grade the 6 All Relative Costs or Alter
eggs as the quality changes In natives
the final analysis, quite a few 7 Management Factors
producers are utilizing the prac- In most poultry enterpnses,
face under certain conditions and egg production level is the major
apparently doing it rather succes- factor contributing to income
sfully. all other factors being equal In
The all-important pros and some reports, production appears
cons of the practice should be to be 20 to 30 percent lower in
inspected rather closely accord molted flocks We would prefei
Ing to current economics and to hope that only well-managed,
prospective economic conditions, healthy pullet flocks, of a strain
In most “cost of production” that characteristically molts well,
budgets, bird depreciation is the would, produce better after molt
second largest cost component mg than this
in egg production Force molting A pullet flock may average 70
lias been described as one prac- percent pioduction during the
Automation At Its Finest
CustomeJ Engineered For The '7os
"CAGE SYSTEMS'
POULTRY EQUIPMENT IS OUR BUSINESS
SEE US AT NEPPCO
Also on display Our new Automated Pullet Cage and
Other Equipment For The 70’s
WE SELL, SERVICE, AND INSTALL
E. M. HERR EQUIPMENT, INC.
R.D.I, Willow Street
>4* *
* < < **yv
•*» *
CAGE LAYER HOUSE
and Fancy Ranch is shown
fust eight months of lay On the
othei hand, aftei going through
a forced molt, an old flock might
aierage 50 peicent pioduction
for a similar period
One must consider the egg pro
duction egg quality and house
capacity for the total pullet year
period versus the pullet flock
production, etc foi eight months,
a lest peuod and subsequent pro
duction, etc for an additional
fh e months Egg quality and
size associated with price receiv
er) then become very important
in the decision to force-molt.
If old birds were consolidated,
so that all facilities weie used
A VJ
464-3321
Lancaster Farming, Saturday. October 1), 1969—25
<
on the Plain Bowman. Bowman is the production
by Henry S. manager. L F. Photo
100 peicent, the facilities might
produce 90 percent as many
eggs as the average pioduction
for a pullet flock ovei the longer
period The decision to consoli
date is not the most desuable
choice for a poultryman to make,
because of the multiple age fac
tor and disease challenge
Egg quality means diffeient
things to different people To a
poultryman, it might mean shell
texture, or the number of crack
ed eggs, or even the “results” of
a grade-out slip To the proces
sor, it might mean how the eggs
look under the candling light,
how well they handle with auto
matic equipment and pack, or the
prevalence and characteristics of
customer complaints
Despite the measuie of quality
i*r -
*•
whatever it might be egg quality
“seems” to be associated with
age of the birds Meie age alone
is not the only final cutena of
quality, however It would seem
teat pioduction span lather than
age is more important in effect
on egg quality
There is no question that theie
is a significant egg size differen
tial between the two pioduction
peiiods consideied. Value o c the
pi oduct then becomes important
as total price received for the
blend yield is accented
One o r the main arguments
against foice-molting is that of
the excessive size of the eggs.
The extia cost of producing these
larger eggs fiom oldei hen? is
lecognized but the processors do
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